Scenic State Park

In the area

Park Info

Quick stats

3,936 acres
52,168 annual visits
13,192 overnight visits

Naturalist

Naturalist programs are not available this summer due to budget cuts.

Wildlife

More than 40 species of animals inhabit Scenic State Park including bald eagles, ospreys, loons, jays, pileated woodpeckers and a variety of songbirds. Birders consider this one of the best places in the state to see the hard-to-find spruce grouse. Along the lakes, marshes and streams, you may come across frogs, toads or even snakes. Otters, beavers and an occasional moose share this 3,360-acre habitat.

History

Although the Ojibwe used this area as part of their hunting grounds, there is little evidence that it was heavily used.

Geology

During the last glacial period, imagine a sheet of ice hundreds of feet high slowly creeping and gouging the earth. As the climate changed and glaciers began to melt, the retreating glaciers left behind depressions, ridges and deposits of soil that formed the rolling hills throughout the area.

Landscape

Scenic State Park protects the entire virgin pine shorelands of Coon and Sandwick Lakes, plus part of the Lake of the Isles, Tell Lake, Cedar Lake and Pine Lake. Coon and Sandwick lakes are the most popular places in the park and offer great fishing for walleyes, northerns, bass and panfish. The park is located in the Laurentian Mixed Forest landscape region abundant with aspen-birch, white and Norway pine, jack pine and mixed hardwoods.